m76

I have recently lost about 20 hours of progress in a game, because I started playing it on games pass, but then ended up buying the game for steam. I expected games to be able to seamlessly switch platforms on PC, but apparently not. Many old games did this without much issue, microsoft's PC games ecosystem is ridiculously flawed, I wish they'd just throw in the towel completely and move all games to steam like they did with the bethesda launcher.

I wish I had that problem, but as it stands there are not nearly enough interesting games that I'd actually want to play for this to become an issue. I have not started any story driven game in over 4 months, and I don't think there is anything on the horizon that would get me excited. There is a good chance that the next game I'll end up playing will be Starfield, which is still half a year out.

Just one at a time, I'll try to finish one game before starting another story driven game. But I dislike playing multiple similar games anyway because reflexes you acquire in one game can be a problem if you start playing a different game.

What causes this is lighting. Realistic lighting is a very compute intensive feature to achieve. And games only have rudimentary imitations of light. Even ray tracing is very limited at this point, it would require the computing power of gaming systems to increase multiple magnitudes to get it close to realism. Games have single point lights in most cases, and lots of baked in lights. Scattered light and bouncing light are not taken into account by most, and even when it is, it is imitated not natural. And this becomes most apparent on objects that are not part of the game world but able to move around in it. And that includes the player character. It is something that we'll have to live with for a while longer no matter how glaring. What I hate the most is that in many games the character will look different in the character creator than in the game environment, because the character creator uses a lighting model that has no relation to in game lighting. This is why I find it important for games to have the option to alter the character after starting the game, so you can adjust for these discrepancies.

Yeah technically all games where you control a character are role playing games. As in you play a role. However I think the term has a very different meaning than the dictionary definition when you say a videogame is an RPG It denotes a type of game that has a certain set of features such as: Leveling XP (or some form of it) Stats (such as weapon and character stats that decide battles rather than being governed by player skill alone) Inventory management Interactable NPCs I think these are the basic pillars that turn a game into an RPG.

Skyrim's characters are basically placeholders, but start exploring in skyrim you bump into interesting stuff and places everywhere. In RDR2 I wasted hours walking around and found nothing of interest. Yeah ambushes that was the last straw for me when after riding for what seemed like an eternity to a poi, I get ambushed and die. I checked, I was 17% into the story, with 4 hours 30 minutes of playtime. I'm actually surprised I lasted that long, I thought I quit sooner than that.

I played it a few hours, but found it boring. The story did not engage me, it all seemed self serving and pointless. None of the characters were particularly likeable. I've tried exploring too, but it's no skyrim, I wasted hours wandering and didn't find anything that would've made it worthwhile. It's a typical rockstar game like GTA. Ambiguous characters with motivations that are extremely hard to identify with. But at least in GTA I find the driving bit fun, riding horses however is a chore. The fighting was tedious. It didn't even feel like a western. And finally the gang seemed more like a travelling circus than actual outlaws.

The best part is the middle, when you already acquired some cool gear and abilities, but there is still room to grow.

Yeah I skipped GT3 too, because by the time I got a PS2 GT4 was already out. But that doesn't mean I underrated GT3, underappreciated it maybe.

I love the OP stuff, I always find it baffling when people complain about over powered builds in RPGs. Nobody is forcing you to use the OP weapon/ability all the time, you could exercise some self restraint. When I want a different kind of challenge or cannon fodder gets boring, I'll just switch to more basic weapon in games. Part of the fun is to find the most effective combinations of available tools. And there is no substitute to feeling like an unstoppable force from time to time.

The games that definitely grew on me were Oblivion and Skyrim. Initially they seemed dull and cheesy, but the more areas I visited the more secrets I uncovered the more intriguing they become. Preferably all open world games should get more interesting over time, and not less.

Night levels that are designed as such are OK, but in games that have day and night cycle I absolutely despise the night. I despise darkness in real life too. Except for sleeping. I quickly loose my orientation and awareness of my surroundings in the dark.

I don't think any of them were underrated. They were all universally praised.

I never had either ability. I can't lie for the world of it. Even when I should tell a white lie I just can't do it. I'd rather stay silent. And I always assume other people are genuine, I'm not able to get into a conversation assuming the other person is going to lie. That's probably projection on my part, because I wouldn't lie so I assume others won't either, especially about trivial and seemingly inconsequential things.

Hungary. Average monthly income was about $1300 in 2021, which might seem extremely low to people from western countries. But it's above average here. Minimum wage is around $450.to put it in perspective.

But seriously, there are so many dishonest and bad faith people out there, especially on the internet. I'd love to be able to instantly know whether someone is genuine or not.

Deus Ex Invisible War: The sequel to the greatest videogame ever is generally considered a failure, and most people dismissed it. While it is certainly not nearly as good as the original it is still an above average game, that deserved much more. I really enjoyed some aspects of it, it expanded on the concept of being able to play multiple sides, and in case you don't know it was one of the first big games that I know of that allowed the player to choose the gender of the protagonist. Mass Effect Andromeda: This game really got the short end of the stick when it released, a bunch of 'influencers' convinced everyone that it is terrible and that was it for the game. While it certainly has some glaring issues it is still a very enjoyable game, and far better, than the generally well received Dragon Age Inquisition. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: This was a typical case of wrong time at the wrong place. The game is simply loathed because it was not what the so called fans expected.They rejected the futuristic sci-fi concept. For me this was one of the most profound single player experiences, it might have been short but very impactful. Dragon Age 2: Maybe not everyone hated this, but still there was a lot of outcry about EA ruining dragon age when this game dropped. I couldn't disagree more, I absolutely loved this game, despite the recycled maps. The combat was much more fluid and fast paced and less based on luck, and the story is much more interesting than of the first game. This is my favorite Dragon Age by far. Ghost Recon Wildlands: Narco Road: OK, this is not exactly a full game, only a DLC, but one containing a full campaign that is longer than many other stand alone games. But everyone told me I shouldn't buy this because it is terrible. Well, I did it anyway, and this is why I never listen to the hype or hate anymore as this ended up being my favorite part of the game. Much more visceral, hard, and engaging, than the base game or the other expansion, Fallen Ghosts. I loved those too, but this is the real deal, getting to go undercover in the drug cartel, and being completely alone, not able to rely on anyone but yourself. It was a brutal experience, and the ending is the icing on the cake. Terminator Resistance: This game opened to middling to outright hostile reviews, from all major publications, but all I've seen in it is a well intentioned oldschool shooter, that doesn't want to be more than that. And the result is a really enjoyable experience, that reignited memories of the old Terminator Future Shock / Skynet games. I'm not sure if The Last of Us II and Cyberpunk 2077 counts as hated, or more like divisive, so I'll only mention them because I enjoyed both very much, they really made 2020 a worthy year for gaming, unlike the disaster that was 2021.

The most I spent was on Train Simulator, about €600 spread out over 4 years.

There are lots of bad games out there that are simply terrible and not worth anyone's time. But occasionally there are some that are objectively bad or even broken in some sense, but still enjoyable. Have you encountered any such game? I've seen several of these over the years that I've had fun with. The oldest I can remember was Car & Driver all the way from 1992, which was a game published by EA long before The Need For Speed, and actually used the exact same formula, it was just based on a different car magazine, Car & Driver obviously. (The first NFS was made in collaboration with Road & Track). I loved how the game menus were made like pages of a magazine, it gave a lot to immersion. But unfortunately the physics of the game was some of the wonkiest I've seen, it was utterly terrible. Another fun fact, this was one of the first games I played that supported SVGA resolution (640x480). The next one that stands out for me is another Racing game, but one released 10 years later: Street Legal Racing. This game was meant to be great, but it was published by a budget publisher, and the developers bit much more than they could chew. They wanted to make a game much more complex than what fit in the publisher's timeline and budget. So the game released unfinished, broken and buggy. What has set it apart was the extremely detailed simulation, the game actually simulated the fluids in the car like coolant, fuel, etc. And it had a damage model that beat everything that came before or after until BeamNG claimed that throne. It also had extensive car upgrade and tuning system. The game become a cult classic and still has a very active community with lots of mods available. Most of the games kinks and bugs were fixed in several patches and a re-release, and the developers kept supporting the game long after the publisher bailed. But of course it never achieved mainstream success, and the developers gave up on trying to do complex games soon after. The company is still around actually but only makes mobile trash since 2009, the original devs on the ground long since left the company. Fun fact: One of the devs turned up in the credits of Driver San Francisco, last I saw. I've had countless hours of fun crashing and harassing traffic in the game, and trying to build the fastest cars. Splinter Cell Double Agent This game was probably the most broken AAA game I had ever played, but it had some such unique mechanics and novel ideas that I enjoyed it despite of it being a buggy piece of trash. Since I wrote a full review on the game way back when I'll link that instead of going into more detail here: http://madblog.shacknet.us/splinter-cell-double-agent-2006/ The last game for now is Alpha Protocol: The greatest bad game ever made! This is another game I wrote a full article on so click for details: http://madblog.shacknet.us/alpha-protocol-2010/

The three worst games, that scarred me for life: The Force Unleashed II Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Outriders

I haven't purchased it, as I just couldn't find it for the right price. No way I'm paying over $60 for any game, that's where I draw the line in the sand. From what I saw from videos they borrowed quite a bit from Tomb Raider and/or Uncharted for this instalment which I'm not so sure about. One mechanic I saw was directly lifted from Tomb Raider, which just shocked me. It is one thing to do similar things, but to so blatantly copy something is not common. Actually makes me think about how the cauldrons in the first game were eerily similar to vaults of Mass Effect Andromeda.

Well, on PC we had that ch On the PC we had these things since forever, it's a good thing that consoles are somewhat catching up.

Last video game magazine I bought was a 2003 January issue. I have been consistently getting every issue of that same monthly magazine since late 1994. Fun fact: by 2003 one issue cost 8 times as much as in 1994. that's 800% inflation in 8 years. OK, I'm exaggerating a bit as the magazine did gain more pages and came bundled with a demo CD and a monthly "free" full version game by the 2000s.

In engine cutscene is still a cutscene. Different rules apply to it than fully interactive environments.

Yeah, it was really hard to fall asleep after playing Alien Isolation.